“ If the guilt of opportunity is great, how much greater is the guilt of that which is believed to be opportunity, but in reality is no opportunity at all. ”
Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh (1903). copy citation
| Author | Samuel Butler |
|---|---|
| Source | The Way of All Flesh |
| Topic | guilt reality |
| Date | 1903 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2084/2084-h/2084-h.htm |
Context
“Whoever plots the sin, thou ’point’st the season;
’Tis thou that spurn’st at right, at law, at reason;
And in thy shady cell, where none may spy him,
Sits Sin, to seize the souls that wander by him.
If the guilt of opportunity is great, how much greater is the guilt of that which is believed to be opportunity, but in reality is no opportunity at all. If the better part of valour is discretion, how much more is not discretion the better part of vice
About ten minutes after we last saw Ernest, a scared, insulted girl, flushed and trembling, was seen hurrying from Mrs Jupp’s house as fast as her agitated state would let her, and in another ten minutes two policemen were seen also coming out of Mrs Jupp’s, between whom there shambled rather than walked our unhappy friend Ernest, with staring eyes, ghastly pale, and with despair branded upon every line of his face.”
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